Govt forms panel for report on solid waste management

A day after being rapped by the Supreme Court for not doing enough to dispose of the huge quantity of garbage in the national Capital, the Delhi government today formed a three-member committee which will submit a report on solid waste management by November 10.

The decision to form the committee, which will be headed by Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, was taken today at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his official residence.

“We have decided to form a three-member ministerial committee headed by Jain. The committee will have Environment Minister Imran Hussain and Water Minister Kapil Mishra as its members.

“It will talk to all stake holders, including the MCD commissioners on garbage collection and disposal and give its report by November 10. We will inform the Supreme Court if there are obstacles,” Kejriwal said.

The committee will consider ways to tackle air pollution at the earliest and will start implementing concrete measures as soon as possible. It will submit the report to the Delhi government.

Chief Minister said the government has taken the apex court’s observation as an “opportunity” and will apprise it about the difficulties the city administration is facing on garbage disposal.

The Supreme Court had yesterday observed that an “alarming” situation prevails in Delhi as the garbage mounds near three landfill sites here are “like Qutub Minar”. It also asked the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators to create awareness about garbage disposal among the people here. “Garbage mounds near landfill sites are above 45 metres.

These are almost like towers as like Qutub Minar. Height of Qutub Minar is 73 metres and these mounds are more than half the size. It’s an alarming situation. Who is going to deal with it? You (government) have to deal with the problem,” the apex court had said.